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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Off to the races!

Celebrate Westlake was my first post colligate race, so it seemed fitting to use it as my first postpartum race as well. My teammates were racing and I wanted to join in on the fun. My coach and I agreed that "racing" would be detrimental, and would put me in a position to create an injury, so we opted for a progression run rather than race! I was just happy to be part of the event, and I hoped to run 6:30-7:00 average. I wanted to progress from 7:00 to 6:00 but all based on my preconceived notion of what these paces felt like. 6 months of no running leaves me clueless on paces. It is going to take time to become a human metronome once again.

All smiles!

The day of the race came and Ry and I were up early feeding the kids and packing them into the car! I was so pumped to have my coach and teammates meet them! Warm up was same old same old 2 miles, drills and strides. Then it was time to race!...I mean progression run! The gun went off, and it was hard to keep things under control, so I inadvertently threw the plan out the window, coming through the mile in 6:08...Ooops! I quickly regrouped and started running closer to the goal pace for mile 2- 6:41. There was a man on a bike cheering for another lady in the race, and I have to admit I started to panic, and worry that I would be beat by someone I didn't want to get beat by. But I talked myself off of the pride ledge and focused on the plan. No one ever passed me, and I knew all of the ladies in front of me belonged there. mile 3 was 6:32, mile 4 was 6:31, and mile 5 was 6:05! I was very happy to run 32:11, and do so pretty comfortably! My legs were never tired from it and I was comfortable on my 10 mile "long" run the next day.

The kids had a good time at the race, and were little angels!

Nolan looking too cool in his shades!

Grandpa and grandma hanging out with the little ones!

I was happy to have a week over 40 miles, and the kids continue to grow and get stronger! Month 2 of having kids is coming to a close, and I look forward to more sleep, more miles, and faster times!